The sun was setting, bathing Konoha in a golden glow.
Hatake Sakumo, who had left the Hokage building and was taking a "leisurely" stroll home, stopped in his tracks.
His Shadow Clones had returned!
After all these days, his Multiple Shadow Clones had finally mastered the Eight Trigrams Seal. They had dispelled themselves and returned to the original!
He hummed an off-key tune and picked up his pace.
The Eight Trigrams Seal had been developed by his "old acquaintance," Tobirama Senju. Or rather, it had been adapted from the Uzumaki Clan's Four Symbols Seal.
Simply put, it was two Four Symbols Seals layered together.
In the anime, the Eight Trigrams Seal was what had allowed Naruto to suppress the Nine-Tails as a child and keep it from taking him over.
In high spirits, Hatake Sakumo decided not to eat at home today. He would take Kakashi out to a restaurant!
It was also time to settle the score with his "old friend" Yano Genma.
He worked out a little plan that wasn't quite fully formed: wait until the early hours of the morning...
He decided to "put off" improving relations between the Uchiha and the villagers for now.
Right now, his mind was full of Tailed Beasts.
Hatake Sakumo remembered that in the anime, Sasuke and Team Taka had gone to capture the Eight-Tails. In the end, the Eight-Tails had severed one of his tails and disguised it as Killer B to fool Team Taka.
And then there were Kinkaku and Ginkaku. By eating the Nine-Tails' flesh, they had gained Nine-Tails Chakra and could even enter the six-tailed "Chakra Cloak" form of Partial Tailed Beast Transformation!
In that case... could he cut off all eight of the Eight-Tails' tails?
He could follow Kinkaku and Ginkaku's example and create "Pseudo-Jinchūriki."
If it worked, Pseudo-Jinchūriki would not only be able to undergo Tailed Beast Transformation, but also gain a massive amount of Chakra for free!
Hatake Sakumo thought the idea might actually work and rubbed his chin. As he passed a street corner, he stopped.
There were three little kids at the corner ahead.
Kakashi was on the left, Rin Nohara was in the middle, and Obito Uchiha was on the right.
Kakashi was quiet as usual, while Obito chattered away beside him, waving his arms about.
Hatake Sakumo watched the "three little ones" for a while longer.
Not bad. Kakashi's changed quite a bit. Looks like he has a good impression of Rin.
After all, Kakashi currently had the task of "mastering the forbidden techniques in the Sealed Scroll" on his shoulders.
Yet even so, he could find time to wander the streets with these two "little bean sprouts"?
Kakashi was essentially ignoring Obito, paying him no attention at all. Apparently, he was only spending time with Rin.
Hatake Sakumo recalled the three sentences he had taught Rin back then. They seemed to have been quite effective.
As for Obito...
To be honest, Hatake Sakumo personally loathed the character Obito Uchiha. After all, the guy had been truly "inhuman" in the anime.
But things were different now.
He was an adult.
As Madara Uchiha had said to Ōnoki, what adult would get angry with a child?
So no matter how much Hatake Sakumo hated Obito Uchiha, he wouldn't deliberately bully him, much less use his position as Hokage to make things difficult for him.
It wasn't worth it, and there was no need.
Once he defeated Madara Uchiha and Madara was no longer pulling the strings behind the scenes, what "cheats" would Obito have left?
Without Hashirama Cells, without Madara and Black Zetsu's help, and with Rin still alive...
Obito Uchiha could just be a "dead last" like a good boy.
As Hatake Sakumo walked on, lost in thought, he called out from a distance:
"Kakashi!"
The three kids all turned around at once.
"Dad," Kakashi called back.
Rin and Obito, meanwhile, respectfully greeted him as "Lord Hokage."
When Obito saw that the newcomer was the Fourth Hokage, he immediately wilted.
Just a moment ago, Hatake Sakumo had seen him from far away, hopping around and gesturing wildly as he said something. Now, though, he was completely silent.
Indeed, Obito had lost his nerve.
Only moments earlier, Obito had stood with his hands on his hips, pointing at Kakashi, who was ignoring him, and shouted arrogantly:
"Kakashi! Don't think you can look down on everyone just because your dad became Hokage! I'm telling you, I, Obito Uchiha, am going to be Hokage someday too-a Hokage even greater than the Fourth! Let's see if you can still act so smug then!"
He had shouted at the top of his lungs, nearly spraying spit across Rin onto Kakashi's face.
Kakashi had been unmoved, his expression the same as ever. He had only replied:
"Oh."
Obito had been furious, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.
What made Obito even more sour was that Rin had barely paid him any attention the whole way here. Instead, she had kept striking up conversations with Kakashi, her gaze fixed on him for long stretches.
When Obito tried to talk to Rin, she only responded with a few "mm-hmms."
And now the Fourth Hokage himself, Kakashi's dad, had shown up.
All of Obito's bluster vanished in an instant.
Hatake Sakumo nodded to the three of them with a kindly smile.
"It's getting late. Would you like to eat together? My treat."
Rin was a little embarrassed.
She remembered how she had once run into Uncle Hatake, and how he had seen at a glance that she liked Kakashi.
But Rin wanted to spend a little more time with Kakashi.
So she looked at Hatake Sakumo, then at Kakashi, unable to decide.
According to Kakashi's "clueless guy radar," Rin's "awkwardness" probably meant she "had something to say but was too embarrassed to bring it up."
Kakashi was considerate enough to offer her a way out:
"Rin, is something the matter? If you don't have time, that's all right. You can just say so."
Hatake Sakumo glanced sideways at Kakashi.
Honestly, Kakashi really was an idiot before he grew into the adult he was in the anime.
Wait.
A scene from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which Hatake Sakumo had watched before transmigrating, suddenly popped into his head.
Sasuke had returned to the village from outside and wanted to improve his relationship with his daughter Sarada and let her feel a father's love.
Sasuke hadn't known what to do, but he had run into Kakashi, who had ultimately given him an idea and told him to say to Sarada:
"You're my little sweetie!"
In the end, Sasuke had gone home and, after struggling for ages, finally said those words to Sarada: "You're my little sweetie."
The result... Sarada had cringed so hard her toes curled on the spot.
Still, in this world, Rin didn't have to die.
Given how grateful Kakashi was to Rin, and how Rin felt about Kakashi...
This kid should be able to find someone, right?
In the end, Rin made up her mind and spoke up:
"Ah, no, that's not it. All right, then... sorry for the trouble."
Obito, who had been silent all this time, jerked his head up.
Rin agreed? She's going to eat with Kakashi?
Just thinking about Rin sitting at the same table as that masked freak, eating and chatting with him while he had to slink home and eat by himself...
How could he let that happen?
Obito immediately panicked.
He hurriedly blurted out:
"Sorry for the trouble, me too!"
Hatake Sakumo still wore the kindly expression of an elder greeting children, with no trace of his loathing for the character Obito Uchiha.
Kakashi only shot Obito a sidelong glance.
Even though he hated this "foul-mouthed" boy his own age, he wouldn't deliberately refuse him and embarrass him.
The four of them found a small roadside restaurant and sat down for dinner.